Cashing in Cassandra
by John Bigboote
Summary: A Soul Edge story that fires on all Caliburs.


"_Hello, Rachel. Welcome to the show."_

\- the guy from the Are You Afraid of the Dark revival mini-series named after the dude from Halloween III

"_I thought I recognized one of their voices. And I know I heard that name 'Snakes' before."_

"_Snakes? Snakes. Snakes. I don't know no Snakes."_

\- Home Alone

* * *

Darkness slithered through the marble columns holding up the temple of Queen Hera as if it were a Trojan horse masquerading as a holy ground. But this place was home to darkness, and there was another presence here that didn't belong.

The temple's tranquil torch-lit gloom had been interrupted by a lone village wench barging in uninvited. Medusa, the demonic guardian of the shrine, stood in her path toward the altar. The mortal and immortal adversaries silently glared at each other like two titans on the verge of war.

The girl stood with her shield to her breast and her sword held out at her side. She saw herself as a courageous heroine ready to take on any evil the world threw at her. The moment the Gorgon laid eyes on her, she saw the girl as only one thing: A vessel.

Medusa was the ruins of a former human beauty in a long gown made of live serpents interwoven together. The top of her head was an exotic and bewildering mess of beady yellow eyes and flicking forked tongues. The Gorgon looked poisonous to the touch. The feral venom covering her skin gave her a stark green complexion.

The vessel had come to cleanse the temple and become a champion against the depraved forces that plagued Greece. But her motivations weren't entirely pure, as she was stubborn to prove she was a better fighter than her older sister. She'd get the opportunity soon enough.

She was cheerfully dressed with a sleeveless and short-skirted orange tunic. A bright blue scarf was tied over her neck with an ornate brooch and floated down her shoulders like a cape. The skirt was matched with a pair of leather combat boots and dark brown tights that covered the entire length of her legs. Her short blonde hair was braided in a ponytail. Her overall appearance was akin to a dairymaid who practiced swordplay with some gladiators, and Medusa keenly sensed she had the sweet fragrance of flower perfume sprinkled over the distant hint of a manure wagon. The farm girl fashioned herself like a princess.

The vessel used an energetic fighting stance that made her constantly hop even when she standing in place. On the back of her braid she wore a ribbon that stood up and made her look like a rabbit, like one who should anticipate being cooked into a stew. But this one seemed convinced she could easily defeat an immortal demon created by Hera.

"What's the matter, huh? Am I too much for you?" the girl said in a voice that was brave, determined, and just a tiny bit nasally. She was practically daring the Gorgon to attack her, motivated by a foolish belief she had any say over her own destiny. Her vapid mind and wide hips made her the perfect fit as a vessel.

Medusa simply grinned at her in return, not wanting to spoil the plans she was already making for this reckless and overconfident girl who had so rudely defiled Hera's temple. Behind her wicked smile, she silently thought "_You're more than enough."_

"Ha!" the brazen vessel exclaimed as she suddenly pounced into her attack. She managed to slice off three of Medusa's hissing appendages as she swept past with her sword. Medusa returned the favor by extending her left sleeve and wrapping the impudent girl's head under a veil of about three hundred more of the squirming fiends.

The vessel stumbled as she dropped her sword and shield. Her arms instantly slumped to her sides as if her whole body was suddenly as heavy as a rock, not even struggling to pull the slithering things off of her head. She crumpled into a heap on her knees and rear before flopping over onto her back on the marble floor. The ball of snakes blinded her, muted her, and suffocated her all at once. Medusa almost felt sorry for how pathetically her fight ended.

Her bust rose and fell with slow, relaxed breathing. Her legs twitched from cerebral shock as the nest of cobras and mambas tangling around her head kept her in a deep slumber. She was as resistant as a hollow vase or an empty goblet. Gorgon magic and snake oil put her so thoroughly out of her consciousness that she never uttered a groan.

The vessel was reduced to her truest form: A vacant and physically able body ready to be inhabited by the power of Hera. The face that came attached to body wasn't particularly important for the task (although she did have a pretty one), and so it remained buried in anonymity under the heap of writhing serpents. What really mattered was all the toned flesh and fighting prowess below the neck. The queen of the Pantheon would put this girl's abilities to better use than any lowly pig farm or village brewery.

Dozens of slithering minions were already burrowing through her ears as they engulfed her head. Silenced and rendered into a docile state, the vessel's body awaited being filled in its other end.

Medusa crawled over the fallen swordswoman's knees. She grinned as her snake-covered fingers reached down and hissed in the dark.

* * *

The vessel was lying on the floor of the temple with puddles of reptilian slime pooled under her head and the base of her skirt. The Gorgon was nowhere to be seen, along with most of her slithering minions. The rest of the scaly brethren had hidden themselves away inside another, smaller Trojan horse.

The vessel drifted out of the waves of her serpentine dreams. She slowly stood up like a girl who wasn't entirely adapted to the weight on her own two feet. Brushing a clump of blonde hair out of her face and green ooze off the bridge of her nose, she blinked.

Her eyes were otherworldly. Her irises had lost their color and blended with her pupils, changing her eyes into solid black discs. A soft chuckle exhaled through her nostrils as she smirked. She conveyed a mood that said she was slightly disgusted with her plight, but otherwise amused.

The Alexandra sisters were valuable livestock for the gods. The weak and timid elder sister had been serving as Zeus's maiden for several months after he sent Hephaestus to simply ask for her loyalty. The younger and feistier sister now belonged to Hera after suffering one of the more decadent ways the gods recruited mortals. Medusa was the high priestess who delivered the rites.

Slime dripped down the cow's hair and splashed onto the window in her tunic showing off her udders. Her pink tongue flicked over her lips with an instinct that was more snakelike than human. Before kneeling to collect her weapons, she adjusted her skirt to hide a torn-open gap as wide as Olympus in the groin of her leggings.

Duly re-armed with her sword and shield, she was ready to begin her service as Hera's Enforcer. Thousands of shadowy whispers stirred through her body and rattled in her mind, using her as a physical conduit of the goddess's will. She was anxious to assume her new life of following the vengeful and duplicitous commands of an invisible queen from beyond the mortal realm, a queen who set out to destroy everything associated with her husband Zeus.

The vessel's first order of business: Sororicide.

* * *

_Author's note: Did you guys ever see that one episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys?_

_Author's note 2: Sophitia's theme in this universe is "I Know There's Something Going On" by Frida. Cassandra's theme is "Intruder" by Peter Gabriel._


End file.
